FFWD REW

Lotus Plaza – Spooky Action at a Distance

Kranky

Even if you randomly stumbled upon Lotus Plaza there’d be little doubt it was a Deerhunter side-project. That was true with 2009’s The Floodlight Collective the debut full-length by Deerhunter guitarist and sometimes vocalist Lockett Pundt but it’s even more so with followup Spooky Action at a Distance . The two bands after all are on the same evolutionary path; as Deerhunter have progressively moved away from heady experimental-leaning atmospherics and embraced a more clean-cut trad rock sound so too has Lotus Plaza with Spooky Action . This means Pundt has dramatically cleaned up his act with his driving pop songs coming across a lot brighter and clearer this time around. It’s a much more direct approach for sure and doesn’t stray far from the last two Pundt-led Deerhunter contributions — Halcyon Digest ’s “Fountain Stairs” and “Desire Lines” — but he hardly pushes against any sort of rock ’n’ roll boundaries here. Instead what you get is some go-down-easy guitar pop which for many a fan will be just fine. But if you still yearn for Deerhunter’s wilder more shambolic early years you might want to pass on this one.

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